Matthew Henry on Psalms 48:1-7
The psalmist is designing to praise Jerusalem and to set forth the grandeur of that city; but he begins with the praises of God and his greatness (Psa 48:1), and ends with the praises of God and his goodness, Psa 48:14. For, whatever is the subject of our praises, God must be both the Alpha and Omega of them. And, particularly, whatever is said to the honour of the church must redound to the honour of the church's God.
What is here said to the honour of Jerusalem is,
I. That the King of heaven owns it: it is the city of our God (Psa 48:1), which he chose out of all the cities of Israel to put his name there. Of Zion he said kinder things than ever he said of place upon earth. This is my rest…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 48:4
For--The reason is given. Though the kings (perhaps of Moab and Ammon, compare Psa 83:3-5) combined, a conviction of God's presence with His people, evinced by the unusual courage with which the prophets (compare Ch2 20:12-20) had inspired them, seized on their minds, and smitten with sudden and intense alarm, they fled astonished.
John Gill on Psalms 48:6
Fear took hold upon them there,.... That is, either when they came up to the city, and passed by it, and saw what they did; or, as Kimchi observes, in the place where they thought to have made a great slaughter; that is, in Armageddon, Revelation 16:16; so upon the slaughter of the seven thousand names of men, or men of name and renown, such as the kings here assembled, the remnant will be frightened, Revelation 11:13;
and pain, as of a woman in travail; this figure is made use of elsewhere, when the destruction of Babylon and the coming of Christ are spoken of; see Isaiah 13:8.
John Calvin on Psalms 48:4-7
Psalm 48:4-7
4. For, behold! the kings assembled, they passed away together. 5. They saw, so they marvelled; they were frightened, they fled precipitately. 6. Fear [192] seized upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail. 7. By the east wind thou breakest in pieces the ships of Tarshish.
4 For, behold! the kings assembled Here that special deliverance of which I have spoken is touched upon. The prophet relates how, when the kings were assembled together to destroy Jerusalem, their efforts passed away without producing any effect, even as clouds in the atmosphere vanish away; yea, he tells us, that by a simple look at the city, they were defeated and undone, and that not after an ord…
